What’s In My Z Palette?

Since getting a large Z palette over the summer, I’ve depotted and started to fill it with some single eyeshadows I use and love. Here’s all of the shadows my Z palette currently houses.

I didn’t think very systematically while I was taking pictures for this post, so my swatch pictures are in a completely different order than the way they’re arranged here in the palette. I have my six main matte neutrals in a 2×3 block on the very left, five of which are from Studio Makeup Warm Up Palette, which, by the way, I thought would be very easy to depot and stick right in. Not so! I soon realized each individual pan was glued to the cardboard of the palette, but by the time I had started trying to extract one of them, the palette itself was too far gone, so I took a pair of scissors (if you know me, you’ll know I love scissors and cutting things up destructively) and cut each eyeshadow pan from its original packaging. Worth it, in my opinion.

The next 2×3 block of shadows are my fun ‘n’ colorful section, with pinks and peach and yellow and blue. All the shadows in my Z palette are singles from Colourpop or MakeupGeek if they’re not from the great excavation of my Studio Makeup palette. The final nine shadows are sort of miscellaneous— I haven’t quite figured out what arrangement I like yet, so they’ve been sitting there like this for a bit. There’s a couple foiled shadows and two duochromes!

Alright, so in order from bottom left corner to upper right corner in this picture, I’ve swatched all of the more neutral tones. All nine shadows from the Studio Makeup palette belong to this picture, so I’ve just listed them as “SM.”

The shadows above:

SM1 (great, classic bone shade for a base)SM2 (I gasped while swatching this. I forgot how good it was)SM3 (I don’t love this one, but that’s just me not liking yellowish gold colors)SM4 (This and SM5 are my favorite blending crease shades. I typically blend them together)SM5Colourpop Paper Tiger (about as far as I’ll go in trying the yellow shadow trend. We’ll see if I can pull it off)MakeupGeek Homecoming (a cool-toned metallic shade I really love)SM6 (this one is gorgeous, though it’s more of a tanned-me shade)MakeupGeek Cocoa Bear (rich reddish brown. So blendable and pigmented)SM8SM9 (this is one of the only true black shadows I own. I admit, it could be blacker, but since I never use it for much more than a soft shadow liner, I don’t mind)

I absolutely love all of these shadows, and I have to admit that swatching them made me remember just how nice they all are.

The shadows above:

Colourpop Glass Bull (my most recent acquisition— a pinky blue frosty duochrome, incredibly soft)MakeupGeek Tuscan Sun (a dusty, soft rose. Perfect for subtle pink looks)Colourpop Wait for It (I got this and Making Moves because I loved the similar colors from the Too Faced Just Peachy palette but didn’t want to dish out the coin for that. These are great)Colourpop Making MovesMakeupGeek Bitten (one of my favorites. It’s a perfect matte burgundy and can be soft or dramatic. Super blendable)MakeupGeek Burlesque (honestly, I don’t use this all too much. It’s beautiful and blendable, though, so I should)MakeupGeek Grandstand (another favorite. MakeupGeek’s foiled eyeshadows are incredibly pigmented and rich. I’m obsessed)MakeupGeek Havoc (despite its less than perfect appearance in the pan due to an unfortunate airplane ride, this shadow is definitely my favorite of them all. It’s a gorgeous duochrome that reads warm brown in one light and reflective green in another. It’s also surprisingly wearable)Colourpop Two Piece (I haven’t worn this out yet but I’m excited to create some looks with it! It’s quite pigmented for a blue, which I’ve heard is difficult to make)

There’s that! The twenty-one eyeshadows currently living in my Z palette. What should I get next?